Adversity teaches us more than prosperity

Maybe it is good for the soul to be pitted against unseen and unknown forces and still stand tall rather than enjoy the fruits of easy labour. Well perhaps we haven’t ”had it so good” but the recent months have probably created a degree of nostalgia for the easy days of the mid decade. Or have they?

Listening to a number of MD’s recently I have been struct by the clarity and purpose many have said and demonstrated. Whilst never wishing to be in some of the circumstances they find themselves they appear to be reveling in the urgency and focus with which they are attending to their businesses. So what has the arduous months been revealing? Well if you were to be reading the FT this week you would have seen over its comment and business life sections you may have come across these nuggets……”half the the population now owns just 1 per cent of of non propertied wealth” and “from the world of high finance to local high street, regulators (eh define your terms EF) have created a model of competition that eliminates competitors”. Welcome once more to the real economy.

So while the “regulators” (?) of the macro economic world set about redefining capitalism, or not, we in the real economy have opportunity. Opportunity driven by the fact that the hunt is on for value in all marketplaces and business exchanges. Some fundamental observations arise to my mind about what shape the more successful companies will be in and so take advantage in market shifts, such as……

Those with strongest customer relationships and service delivery. Those were postive leadership is creating good morale. Those who are strengthening their key management capabilty. Those who are ambitiously marketing. Those where efficient cash management is in place.

In these current times the strategic question to be asked is whether the business is advancing in such areas and doing so more quickly than the competition. 

The most important question for the management teams….”What is adversity teaching you?” Once we catch the answers we might want to keep them as the guiding principles for the long term – way beyond recovery.